Tag / tomatoes

This tomato basil soup is a wonderful way to use up your garden tomatoes. It also freezes well for later when you want to snuggle up with a bowl full of soup, a nice grilled cheese sandwich, and fuzzy slippers.

The other day, I was in the mood for something salty, tangy and warm for lunch. This seemed to fit the bill perfectly! As most of you know, I do most of my grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s. I always have one of their rustic ciabatta flatbreads on hand. They are so versatile. Like a Boboli, they are seasoned to perfection and can morph into many things from pizza to a savory tart in no time, like this greek flatbread.

Yesterday, we decided to go apple picking. Since we had a bunch of squash, eggplants and tomatoes, it seemed like an easy solution to dinner to make our crock pot ratatouille. This is a very easy satisfying recipe. When completely cooked it is like a vegetable stew. We serve it over rice or pasta with crusty bread. Last night, I fried up a few sausages per the kids request as a side.

If you are like us, you now have an abundance of cucumbers and tomatoes from your garden. One thing that I like to do is make this relish. It is so quick to make, versatile and delicious. We use the relish in many ways including:

As a side dish Place it on top of a bed of mixed greens sprinkle it with feta cheese and make a salad. Use it on sandwiches Serve it with fresh crusty bread Use this instead of salsa with tortilla chips Toss with fresh pasta-serve hot or as a cold pasta salad Add a generous spoonful to the top of grilled meats prior to serving

Combine the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, basil, olives, and capers in a medium sized bowl. Drizzle the vinegar and oil over the top. Add salt and pepper (don’t skimp on this one) and mix well. Store in the refrigerator for up to four days.(but it probably will not even last that long once you try it).